© Win McNamee/Getty ImagesGeneral Mark Milley
Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller ripped Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley on Wednesday over a report that
Milley told his Chinese counterpart that he would warn the Chinese military if the U.S. — and then-president Donald Trump — was about to launch a strike. The Washington Post reported Tuesday, based on revelations in a forthcoming book from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, that
Milley was allegedly so worried that Trump would strike China that he called and told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army that the U.S. would not launch a strike and, that if the U.S. did, it would not be a surprise. Milley reportedly said:
"General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you. General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time. It's not going to be a surprise."
Miller told Fox News that he "did not and would not ever authorize" Milley to have "secret" calls with General Li, saying that the allegations against Milley were a "disgraceful and unprecedented act of insubordination," and calling on him to resign "immediately."
"The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the highest-ranking military officer whose sole role is providing military-specific advice to the president, and by law is prohibited from exercising executive authority to command forces. The chain of command runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense, not through the Chairman."
Comment: As Biden administration personnel found ways to validate General Milley's actions and the implications dripping from passages in the Woodward-Costa book,
others spoke from a protocol perspective:
Christopher Miller, the former acting Secretary of Defense, said Milley should resign "immediately." In a statement to Fox News, Miller said:
"the armed forces since the beginning have operated under the inviolable principle of civilian control of the military."
Kash Patel, the former chief of staff for the Defense Department, said Milley violated laws governing the chairman's ability to exercise "any operational authority." Patel told Fox News:
"Congress put this in the statute because the U.S. military is to be led by a civilian, the commander-in-chief. Furthermore, by law, the national command authority goes from the president to the secretary of Defense to include anything relating troop deployments, operations in theaters of war, and nuclear command.
"Calling a foreign counterpart and discussing operational capabilities against that enemy is literally treasonous. The White House, nor the Office of the Secretary of Defense authorized the chairman to conduct any calls with Chinese officials regarding operations."
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said in a tweet that the "deep state is real. General Milley needs to be court-martialed for sedition."
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said nobody elected Milley.
"He can't pretend otherwise. We need an investigation NOW & if true, his resignation & court-martial. While we're on the topic of 'unrest,' Biden & Milley are directly responsible for 13 dead servicemembers & letting Afghanistan fall into chaos."
Reacting to the statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Donald Trump Jr. said:
"That isn't even remotely close to a denial from Milley ... it's basically a full throttle defense of his potentially treasonous actions. He needs to be removed."
See also:
Comment: As Biden administration personnel found ways to validate General Milley's actions and the implications dripping from passages in the Woodward-Costa book, others spoke from a protocol perspective: See also: